Wilderness Ethic
Many writers and scholars have considered the values that nature and the wilderness experience hold for humans. They explore the relationship between humans and nature, which can help clarify ethical consideration of canoeing and recreation, as well as designated wilderness areas. Their conclusions of the benefits seem infinite. In this section, I take a step back from canoeing and provide a sort of literature review of works that pertain to the wilderness experience, designated wilderness areas, and finally, canoeing itself. These essays are pertinent because they both formulate and echo major environmental themes and contribute to the culture of the wilderness, as well as humans in wilderness.
William Cronan
Wilderness is a human creation, William Cronan argues in The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong in Nature. He echoes colleagues in claiming that it is time to rethink the idea of wilderness. Cronan reminds readers that historically and biblically, wilderness was feared and considered dangerous. It was only when the frontier disappeared that people developed a romantic idea of wilderness and thus began preserving it. Furthermore, due to this romantic idea of wilderness, it provides vacations and getaways only for the wealthy looking for exploration and adventure. Cronan believes that preservation often means protecting the land from those who use it for survival. Thus, he too calls for an instilled respect for the land in all people. With the right attitude people could move back into wildness, ending the current separation of wilderness from humans. Cronan encourages ending the dualism, which determines, for example, that a tree in a garden is unnatural and a tree in the wild is natural. He challenges people to stop looking at the human, and non-human, natural and unnatural, but to instead adopt a respectful approach to nature, and celebrate its omnipresence. (pp.471-499).
Cronan raises interesting points when considering that the wilderness was taken from the indigenous people who relied on it, and it now being fenced in to keep it from people who want to visit. I wonder if Cronan would believe that the cabin culture is an end to the dualism of humans and nature, or a culture that perpetuates it. Is it only a question of having respect for natural places? Canoeing in the north has certainly proven to instill a sense of awe and love for nature, and so perhaps Cronan would be comfortable with these interactions.
A Native Perspective
Chief Luther Standing Bear writes about living in harmony with nature. He claims that his people were deeply connected with Mother Earth. They respected the animals, the land, and the earth’s spirit. He argues that while Americans immediately labeled the land “wild” and decided that the animals and savages were something to conquer, Native Americans never saw the wilderness as something to fear. In fact, Standing Bear argues that nature is anything but dangerous. He describes wilderness as hospitable, friendly, and safer than civilization. Additionally, Standing Bear claims that wilderness compels an acute awareness of surroundings, and those that grow up without it are content with hours of mindless stimulation. (pp. 201-206).
From Standing Bear’s perspective, the culture of white people is the enemy of wilderness. Author Roderick Nash describes them more as having conflicting feelings about nature. He argues in The International Perspective that it is only those who do not have nature—those in an urban setting for example—who want it. Consequently, people spend money to travel to wilderness. In addition, Nash introduces the idea of an import-export relationship between those countries without substantial wilderness and those with. Nash claims that for underdeveloped countries, it can be profitable to save and preserve the wild. He argues that one mountain lion, due to the fascinated American and European tourists will be more profitable alive then dead and sold. Nash arrives at the conclusion that profits stemming from wilderness preservation should not be the only motivation to save it, and that morally-higher, intrinsic values will come with time. For now, however, it will still be an economic benefit for the exporters, and a rare pleasure for the importers. (pp.207-216).
It is clear than that Nash would support use of wilderness in any form that instills in humans a desire to save it. Canoeing and other recreational uses ensure that the wilderness area will be more beneficial in tact and abundant than logged and degraded.
The Older Generations
There are common threads in several essays I read, which connect the thoughts of John Edwards, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and John Muir. These are early thinkers in the environmental movement, and each responds to mainstream ideas during their time. In their own way, they all advocate wilderness as a place for growth and reflection. These scholars play with the idea of wilderness and people, and comment on where human beings fit into vast wilderness. Their essays prove important when considering those aspects of nature that entice humans to pursue experiences in it. Individually, each author evokes new images and ideas regarding nature.
In his essay The Images or Shadows of Divine Things, John Edwards describes the beauty of the world as one might experience it with the five senses. As the title suggests, Edwards attempts to depict the images and unknowns of nature. He claims that humans enjoy nature, but don’t know why, either because we don’t understand or appreciate the intricate harmonies that create something like a beautiful violet flower. According to Edwards, it is because of the beauty of the world, even the unnoticed, which even the most miserable of people love to live. (pp. 23-24).
In his second essay, Christian Doctrine of Original Sin, Edwards addresses humans as sinners at the mercy of God. After all, Edwards writes that people are a burden to the earth. And thus, it is God’s mercy alone that has kept them out of hell thus far. Without this mercy, humans have no other reason to be saved. Edwards argues that humans’ sin, nature doesn’t. Moreover, nature is not the cause of our sin. (pp. 25-27).
In Nature Emerson argues that in nature humans can return to a state of reflection, reason and faith. He depicts nature as universal, omnipotent, and spiritual. At the same time, he tries to convey nature with human like qualities in an attempt to give a sense of what nature provides for him and other human beings. One such quality is that nature compels humbleness. (pp. 28-30)
Thoreau emphasizes, in Walking, the importance of wilderness preservation and argues that society can learn from nature, and thus it should not belong to anyone in particular. Specifically, the goal of his essay is to explain that humans should be regarded as inhabitants, or a part of nature. He argues that no landscape can be owned. Nature is for everybody and it exists for the well being of humans. (pp. 31-47)
John Muir reflected upon the necessity of wilderness in certain selections from, Our National Parks and argues that wilderness is a necessity, not just for their instrumental value, but also as “fountains of life.” He devotes several pages to the various national parks in the United States, though comments on the lack of appreciation from visitors, who are content to watch the scenery from their cars. Muir is concerned with the uneven rate of preservation and destruction of nature, the latter taking place faster. He acknowledges that it will ultimately be the government that will have to save wilderness, if anyone decides to save it at all. pp. 48-62
Since these men contemplated their own views of the wilderness experience, humans have come a long way in taking action to protect wilderness areas and to monitor human use. National parks currently do well to remind people that nature is a thing to be respected, as do they promote the beauty of the wild. Emerson illustrates the importance of reflection in nature, and Edwards is one on the first authors to argue for its innocence and beauty, while condemning humans as a burden to the earth. Thoreau and Muir argue for saving wilderness through preservation, though call for connections between humans and nature, as well as respect for it.
Selections of these essays were taken from The Great Wilderness Debate as edited by J. Baird Callicott (1998).
Paul Gruchow
One final author must be reviewed when studying canoeing. Paul Gruchow is an amateur canoeist who braves northern Minnesota and writes about his experiences. He serves as an example of those persons who seek a wilderness experience through canoeing. His book, Boundary Waters: Grace of the Wild provides a contemplation of nature and explores the relationship of a person to a place. In the book, Gruchow shares many of his own outdoor experiences, as well as philosophies that are reminiscent of Emerson and Thoreau, but I would argue that he never conveys the necessity of a relationship to the land and wilderness. Gruchow does appeal to amateurs, however, the clumsy campers, and the timid adventurers. In the preface of the book, Gruchow wrote, “[I am] an inept canoeist who has been unable to master even the backstroke” (XIII). He continues in this self-deprecating manner about his lack of sense of direction and outdoor skills. His stories include those of getting lost, spending time in the cold winter woods studying Thoreau, visiting Aisle Royale, and watching interaction of wild animals. Gruchow even ends the section, “By the light of the winter moon” with the conclusion that he could find wilderness everywhere, even in civilization, because it was the spirit of wilderness that mattered most. In this statement, he reflects the common theme that once a person has really experienced wilderness, they are never quite the same, a phenomenon that perpetuates seeking wilderness experiences. It would seem that with his inept yet hopeful and inspiring nature, Gruchow’s book might inspire even the most incompetent and “un-outdoorsy” people. However, he fails at one point, and that is inspiring a relationship with the land. Gruchow frequents wilderness when he pleases, leaves, and counts on the spirit of wilderness to be with him in civilization. But even he admits, “I feel, I confess, like an imposter when I write about the canoe country in Minnesota… Many thousands of people know this landscape better than I and probably love it more” (preface, XIII). In this sense, Gruchow acknowledges the almost cultish qualities of canoeing in Minnesota, but he doesn’t let it stop him from trying. He uses the land to keep a journal, philosophize about wilderness, ultimate reflect on his experiences for the greater public. He writes about the significance of what a universal nature provides in his life. Gruchow’s stories reflect classic encounters with canoeing, but I wish he had explicitly stated the importance of forming a bond with a particular landscape.
Gruchow, Paul. 1997. Boundary Waters: The Grace of the Wild. MN: Milkweed editions
